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From: rim@csadfa.cs.adfa.oz.au (Bob McKay)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: Could I Have Seen a Pelican?
Message-ID: <1943@ccadfa.adfa.oz.au>
Date: 5 Oct 90 04:13:12 GMT
References: <1990Oct3.171714@Unify.com>
Sender: news@ccadfa.adfa.oz.au
Lines: 19

> In article <896@sun13.scri.fsu.edu>, sandee@sun16.scri.fsu.edu (Daan
> Sandee) writes:
> 
>> Brown Pelicans habitually sit on power lines. They kind of wrap their
>> feet around them ; a common sight along bridges on Florida coasts.
> 
There was an incident at Urunga in northern New South Wales ten years ago or
so: the main power line supplying Northern NSW crosses a fairly wide estuary
there, right next to a train line. A large flock of pelicans was sitting on
the river when a train went by and frightened them. They took off and headed
for a safe perch: yes, the umpty squillion kilovolt line. Well a couple of 
hundred full size pelicans weigh a lot - sufficient to bring the power lines 
down and black out northern NSW for quite some time. Must have been rather
exciting for the waterskiers who also frequent that estuary.

Bob McKay		   Phone:	+61 6 268 8169	    fax: +61 6 268 8581
Dept. Computer Science		ACSNET,CSNET:	rim@csadfa.cs.adfa.oz
Aust. Defence Force Academy	UUCP:	...!uunet!munnari!csadfa.cs.adfa.oz!rim
Canberra ACT 2600 AUSTRALIA	ARPA:	rim%csadfa.cs.adfa.oz@uunet.uu.net